Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara rejected any renewed attacks on Iran and had conveyed its concerns to US President Donald Trump, while Washington and regional mediators continued efforts to negotiate an end to the eight-month conflict.
We stress in any case that it is possible to resolve these issues through dialogue and diplomacy. Unfortunately, we see a negative change one more time. We are doing our utmost to prevent this ‘%s’, Erdogan told reporters on board a flight returning from Azerbaijan, according to a transcript published by his office on Monday.
Erdogan stressed that he has raised Turkey’s concerns about the prospect of further military action against Iran during a recent call with Trump.
Turkey, which shares a border with Iran, has maintained diplomatic and economic ties with Tehran despite differences on regional issues.
Ankara has consistently supported diplomacy to resolve disputes involving Iran, reflecting its interest in preventing further instability along its eastern border.
Erdogan’s comments came as Trump prepared to meet with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the White House on Monday for closed-door talks.
Qatar has played a central role in mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran, forwarding proposals and seeking to narrow disputes over Iran’s nuclear programme and conditions for ending the war.
However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that negotiations had made little progress and that some progress did not seem imminent.
Speaking before leaving Florida for a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Paris, Rubio said Trump favoured a diplomatic solution, but described some of Iran’s demands as scandalous and ridiculous and unrealistic.
Tehran has insisted that Washington lift the blockade and maritime sanctions and stop the hostilities before negotiations resume, conditions that have emerged as major obstacles to diplomatic progress.
Trump stressed on Sunday that it was very impossible to authorize further attacks against Iran if negotiations progressed and produced a strong deal.
However, he warned that Washington had identified additional infrastructure targets, including bridges, if military operations were to resume.
The conflict has seriously disturbed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz a vital route for global power supplies while the United States maintains a naval blockade to Iranian ports, and Tehran limits passage through this water axis. /Telegraph/
